That was the method for the No. 3 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs softball team over the weekend.

The Lady Buffs got a sweep of Lone Star Conference foe Tarleton State (11-11, 0-3), including 11-0 and 14-11 wins Saturday at Schaeffer Park, but in two of the three games, it came down to the final out.

“We are having to hold on too much right now,” WT coach Kevin Blaskowski said. “Two out of three games we had to hold on until the final out of the game. That’s not very good softball right now.”

WT (19-1, 3-0) pitcher Hannah Newcomb was a bright spot, getting wins in all three games.

“I’m thankful Hannah Newcomb could come out and throw as many innings as she did for us,” Blaskowski said. “She had to be the workhorse. We’ve got to get more out of our pitching staff than that.”

Newcomb pitched seven innings in Friday’s game and five innings in the run-rule first game Saturday. Then Newcomb came in during the fourth inning in relief in the second game of the doubleheader, pitching four innings for a 16-inning weekend.

“The wind was blowing out,” Newcomb said. “My goal was just to keep the ball down so they couldn’t hit anything hard and in the air. That’s what I did. We already had a big enough lead so I was just trying to keep them to minimum damage so we could get the game done.”

Right fielder Renee Erwin continued her strong week, adding eight RBIs in the three-game series, including a walk-off grand slam in game one of the doubleheader. Erwin finished the week with a .625 average and 17 RBIs. Erwin said she’s happy to get three LSC wins so early.

“That’s a very big start,” Erwin said. “It sets the tone. I was just seeing the ball really, really well. I was just going up to the plate with the mindset each time of just getting on base.”

Blaskowski said it shouldn’t have been as difficult as it was.

“We put up 25 runs today, it should have been two run-rule games easily,” Blaskowski said.

“We have to hold on to win a game 14-11. That last fly ball was eight feet from putting us behind in that last one. We’ve got to finish. We’ve got to play every pitch, every out. That’s a lesson some of these kids still gotta learn.”

Despite the rough game, Blaskowksi said it’s good to start of LSC play with a sweep.

“It was a huge start,” Blaskowski said. “It’s a big sweep. That’s the way you want to start the season against a good team. We were very fortunate to get those three wins.”